Certain refrigerator appliances include an ice maker. To produce ice, liquid water is directed to the ice maker and frozen. A variety of ice types can be produced depending upon the particular ice maker used. For example, certain ice makers include a mold body for receiving liquid water. An auger within the mold body can rotate and scrape ice off an inner surface of the mold body to form ice nuggets. Such ice makers are generally referred to as nugget style ice makers. Certain consumers prefer nugget style ice makers and their associated ice nuggets.
Rotating the auger within the mold body poses certain challenges. For example, the auger can apply a large force onto a wall of mold body when the auger rotates and scrapes ice off the inner surface of the mold body. In turn, a bearing can be subjected to significant wear due to the large force applied by the auger, and the wear can generate debris that contaminates ice within the mold body.
Accordingly, an ice maker with features for limiting a force appliance by an auger onto a mold body during rotation of the auger within the mold body would be useful.